How to Build a Garden Bouquet Step-by-Step

Design a bouquet with a wide array of florals, edibles and botanicals—even weeds. Follow these step-by-step instructions to build your own flower arrangement.
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Berries and blooms

This cast-stone urn holds a sultry arrangement, including a wine-hue succulent as the focal point. Farmer-florist Gretel Adams of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm in Columbus, Ohio, shows how to create this design.

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Step 1: Gather materials and ingredients

Ready the stems of flowers and branches by removing excess leaves from the lower half of each. The materials in this bouquet include:Maroon ninebark foliage'Bloodgood' Japanese maple foliagePurple balloon flower'Hopi Red Dye' amaranthAmazon Purple dianthus'Benary's Giant Purple' zinnias'Echo Blue' lisianthusRaspberriesCurrants

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Step 2: Prepare a vase and fill it with water

If your urn has a drainage hole at the bottom, insert a plastic bowl to hold water. Form a piece of chicken wire into a loose ball, which will hold the stems in place. Wire a large succulent rosette to give it a stem so it can be added to the design. 

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Step 3: Place foliage

Determine the design's basic shape and form and distribute ingredients so the textures are well-balanced. The dark design elements here include foliage from a ninebark shrub and a Japanese maple tree, as well as just-picked amaranth stems.

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Step 4: Choose focal flowers

Balance each flower throughout the arrangement so it can be viewed for its unique color and form. Zinnias, balloon flowers, lisianthus and the dramatic purple succulent star in this design.

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Step 5: Add volume

A few stems of hot pink dianthus add volume to this design. Finishing touches include thornless blackberry, raspberry and currant stems, each of which adds whimsical details and interest. The succulent, placed front and center, can be saved and used again in a future bouquet.

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